Textile floor covering in motor vehicles are known per se. They are usually prepared by initially forming a textile floor layer in a matrix form of the floor panel of the motor vehicle. Due to the transmission tunnel or due to elevations and cavities on the floor panel, there are differences in height ranging from a few millimeters to some centimeters.
Usually, velours or needle felt carpets which are coated on the backside are used. The carpets in high-quality cars are supplied with a so-called heavy layer to improve the sound insulation. This may be, for instance, an EPDM sheet containing up to 70% by weight of a filler.
The thus obtained laminate of backside coated carpet and heavy layer is usually subjected to shaping.
In the prior art, in order to equilibrate the unevenness of the floor panel and for sound absorption, an absorption foam back is placed on the above mentioned laminate by the back injection process. Particularly, it is preferred in the prior art to use a filled two-component polyurethane foam (heavy foam) which is injected into the mold. This polyurethane foam is acoustically effective in combination with the heavy layer.
WO 93/11927 pertains to large-area lining parts made of thermo-plastics for motor vehicle inside use or equivalent applications, wherein the carrier consists of polyolefin particle foams, onto which a decorative layer of mainly polyolefinic polymers consisting of a multi-layer knitted or woven fabric with knitted-in spacers of preferably polyolefinic polymer threads is backed during the molding process, the carrier has a decorative textile surface, or is laminated on its upper side with a decoratively designed sheet, mainly based on olefinic polymers, or in addition is laminated on the backside with a polyolefin sheet. As used in the present document, "lining parts for motor vehicle inside uses" means in particular side parts of doors, inside roof linings (finished inside roofs), seat back linings, hat racks, and side linings made of thermoplastics.
WO 93/00216 pertains to a process for the preparation of multi-layer molded parts by injection-backing of an essentially flexible laminate (16) consisting of a sheet-like surface material (19), such as leather or textile fabric, backed with a foam layer (22). Before injecting the laminate into the mold, a separation layer (18) is applied to the foam surface. The separation layer consists of a release agent containing a mixture of an aqueous rubber dispersion and an aqueous silicone emulsion.
From WO 94/01278 and the prior art mentioned therein, a process has been known for the preparation of textile floor coverings for motor vehicles by
(a) wiper blade coating a mixture of foam off-cuts and a self-curing binder (absorption foam) 2 in a matrix form of the floor panel 1 of the motor vehicle in a desired layer thickness profile; PA1 (b) applying by pressing the optionally premolded textile carpet 4 provided with a heavy layer 3 on the mixture of foam off-cuts and self-curing binder 2 while adjusting the desired density of the foam off-cuts; PA1 (c) activating the binder; and PA1 (d) bonding the mixture of foam off-cuts and self-curing binder 2 to the heavy layer 3 of the textile carpet. By the teaching of this document, a uniform density distribution throughout the volume of the backside absorption foam 2 can be achieved. PA1 a) a foam layer 2; PA1 b) a separation layer 5; PA1 c) a heavy layer 3; and PA1 d) a textile carpet 4; PA1 wherein the adhesiveness of said separation layer 5 with respect to said heavy layer 3 is lower than the adhesiveness of said separation layer 5 with respect to said foam layer 2. PA1 a) a foam layer 2; PA1 b) a separation layer 5; PA1 c) a heavy layer 3; and PA1 d) a textile carpet 4; PA1 wherein the adhesiveness of said separation layer 5 with respect to said heavy layer 3 is higher than the adhesiveness of said separation layer 5 with respect to said foam layer 2. PA1 a) a foam layer 2; PA1 b) a heavy layer 3; PA1 c) a textile carpet 4; and PA1 d) a separation layer 5; PA1 wherein said separation layer 5 is separably bonded to said heavy layer 3 by spot bonding and/or is separably bonded to said foam layer 2 by spot bonding.
However, when recycling such textile floor coverings, a severe problem arises from the layers employed being bonded together unseparably, thus only multicomponent mixtures being available for the reuse. In principle, however, the textile floor coverings bonded to the heavy layer, on one hand, and the foam backing, on the other hand, could be passed to excellent possible reuses after separation thereof.
Accordingly, the problem of the present invention is to provide recyclable textile floor coverings for motor vehicles with a multi-layer structure which can be subjected to an economically useful separation of their individual component layers when the motor vehicle is no longer used. It is not important here to completely separate all existing layers but rather to separate layers once or twice in an economically useful manner.